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Montevideo, December 26th 2024 - 20:07 UTC

Stories for December 2017

  • Sunday, December 24th 2017 - 11:42 UTC

    Venezuela expels Brazilian and Canadian top diplomats

    “If confirmed, this decision demonstrates, once again, the authoritarian nature of the Nicolas Maduro administration,” Brazilian officials said.

    Officials in Venezuela took the first step on Saturday toward expelling top diplomats from Brazil and Canada who have been accused of meddling in the country’s politics. National constituent assembly president Delcy Rodriguez declared both Brazil’s ambassador and Canada’s charge d’affaires as persona non grata, a move which does away with their diplomatic credentials.

  • Sunday, December 24th 2017 - 09:39 UTC

    Venezuela: some political prisoners in freedom

    Leopoldo López, former mayor of the Caracas municipality of Chacao, has been imprisoned since 2014. He was accused for participating and promoting mass protests against the regime. Photo: Reuters

    The National Constituent Assembly (ANC in Spanish) recommended to the Public Prosecutor and the Judicial Branch to release more than 80 political prisoners. At the moment, 13 of them have been released with precautionary measures.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 12:38 UTC

    Dublin does not accept direct rule from London in North Ireland

    The Stormont executive collapsed at the start of 2017 after a bitter row between the DUP and Sinn Féin over a failed energy scheme.

    The Irish government would expect to have a “real and meaningful involvement” in Northern Ireland if efforts to restore Stormont fail, the Irish prime minister has said. Leo Varadkar said he would not support a return to direct rule from London if time is called on talks to restore a power-sharing government in Belfast, and anticipated he would make a fresh bid for a deal in January.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 12:34 UTC

    Indictment and preventive imprisonment of Cristina Fernandez confirmed by federal court

    Cristina Fernandez and several close advisors and ministers allegedly were involved in the “criminal plan” to grant impunity to the Iranian officials perpetrators.

    An Argentine Federal Court in Buenos Aires City confirmed the indictment and preventive imprisonment of ex president Cristina Fernandez, one of several defendants under investigation for the alleged cover up of the attack against a Jewish organization, by signing a memorandum of understanding with Teheran considered the culprit of the 1994 carnage which cost 85 lives and hundreds injured.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 12:29 UTC

    Trump boasts his Xmas present: the US$ 1.5tn tax overhaul law as promised

    “I didn’t want you folks to say I wasn’t keeping my promise. I’m keeping my promise,” he told reporters in the White House.

    US President Donald Trump signed Republicans’ massive US$1.5 trillion tax overhaul into law, cementing the biggest legislative victory of his first year in office, and also approved a short-term spending bill that averts a possible government shutdown. Trump said he wanted to sign the tax bill before leaving Washington for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, rather than stage a more formal ceremony in January, so he could keep his promise to finish work before Christmas.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 12:01 UTC

    Venezuelan minister praises China and lashes out at the US, in Beijing

    “Our country is under permanent attack and aggression from the United States of America,” Arreaza said sparing no words in praising China

    Venezuela’s foreign minister blamed the United States for his country’s spiraling debt crisis, saying Washington’s “permanent attack” had left the economy crippled. Jorge Arreaza lashed out at Donald Trump, US and European sanctions, and American interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs at the Venezuelan embassy in Beijing during a three-day official visit.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 10:37 UTC

    Brazil and Paraguay soccer executives sentenced in US on corruption charges

    Marin, who is also a former governor of São Paulo, was found guilty of six of the seven counts against him of money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy.

    Two former top South American football executives have been found guilty of multiple charges at a US trial into corruption in the sport: Jose Maria Marin, the former head of Brazil's Football Confederation (CBF), and Paraguay's Juan Ángel Napout, who led South America's football governing body Conmebol, were convicted on Friday.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 10:30 UTC

    Theresa May says she is more than “Madame Brexit”, and is “in for the long term”

    “You might have noticed I smiled when I heard the translation of Mrs. Brexit or Madame Brexit,” she told reporters.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted she is more than “Madame Brexit,” having been given the title by Poland's prime minister. She said there were “other things” she wanted to achieve apart from delivering a successful exit from the EU - such as improvements to education and training, and insisted she was “in it for the long-term”, shrugging off suggestions she had had a bad year.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 10:23 UTC

    Rajoy rules out talks with exiled Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont

    After congratulating voters for an election with no incidents, Rajoy ruled out speaking to Puigdemont saying the person he “has to sit down with is Arrimadas.”

    Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday said he would not hold talks with exiled Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont in the wake of the results of Catalan regional elections held Thursday.

  • Saturday, December 23rd 2017 - 10:14 UTC

    Venezuela's economy contracted a massive 16.5% in 2016, admits government

    It also classed 11.3% of the population as “extremely poor” in 2014, the last year the figures were available, up from 7.1% in 2012. Photo: AFP

    Venezuela's economy shrank a massive 16.5% in 2016, according to an official government filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The oil-rich but impoverished country attributed the collapse to a contraction of 9.9% in the oil sector and 16.1% in the non-oil economy.